magyar

Hungarian

This post if for you, Leah! Let me know what you think.

Here is a little "Hooked on Phonics" lesson for learning Hungarian. It's much easier to practice when you hear them and repeat them rather than staring at something on a page. But I guess this is still something! Today I will write out the consonants. Again, much easier to hear than just look and say.

There are 44 letters in the Hungarian alphabet, 14 of them vowels.

These letters are pronounced and spelled the same as in English:
b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, and z.

These letters are not in Hungarian, unless used in writing a foreign word (thus included in the 44):
q, w, x, y (never by itself)

Here are other consonants (all considered single letters) in Hungarian and how they are pronounced (roughly) in Hungarian:
c (ts in hats)
cs (ch in teacher)
dz (ds in roads)
dzs (j in jam)
gy (d in during, only press your tongue behind your upper gum)
j (y in you)
ly (y in you)
ny (n in new)
r (little roll at the tip of your tongue)
s (sh in ship)
sz (s in sea)
ty (t in student, only press your tongue behind your upper gum)
zs (s in pleasure)

Since I know what they sound like, it's hard to really describe them using an English word if there really is not a sound like that in English. The "gy" is the hardest one for me. It just sounds different and is hard for me to pronounce correctly. We were told that it is like the "d in during," but I don't agree. Maybe I'm just weird, but I have a hard time with that one most! And there are a ton of Hungarian words with that letter sound... Just look at the title of this post!

Vowels to come at a later date!